Forgotten by Mariah Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

several conditions.”
    “Of course he did,” Cannon muttered. “What does the bastard want this time? Oh, let me take a wild guess—immunity for the boy’s murder.”
    “Naturally, he doesn’t want to be punished for the crime. That was a given going into this. What he wants is an hour of horseback riding.”
    “He wants…
what
?”
    “That was my reaction too, but that’s it. He wants to ride a horse for an hour.”
    “Of course, you’re not going along with this.”
    “Of course we are. It’s being arranged in an indoor riding facility as we speak.”
    “That’s total bullshit.”
    “Tell that to Madeline Williams.”
    “Why would Mancini agree to this?”
    She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he wishes he’d been able to hold out for the names of a few more victims before you made that deal locking them into thirteen.”
    Cannon stared at her, his eyes dark, his expression unreadable.
    “And I fit into this how?”
    “Oh, that’s the third condition,” Portia told him. “He wants you there. He wants you to ride with him to and from the prison.”
    “I’m no longer his attorney.” Cannon shook his head. “I don’t want anything to do with him. You can count me out.”
    “Then there’s no deal, and Madeline Williams goes to her grave never having found her son.” Portia looked directly into Cannon’s eyes, anger rising within her. “But I suppose any man who’d craft a deal to get a child molester and murderer life in prison rather than the death penalty—a penalty he so richly deserved—shouldn’t be expected to give a damn about the families of his client’s victims.”
    Cannon’s face hardened.
    “I’m sorry I wasted your time, Mr. Cannon.” Portia rose, unable to meet his eyes, afraid of just what more she might say.
    She turned her back and walked out of the office.
    “Agent Cahill,” he called to her when she was almost to the elevator. “Wait.”
    She paused midstride and looked back over her shoulder as he approached.
    “Let’s get one thing straight. I did not choose to represent Sheldon Woods. I was appointed by the court to defend him. And while I understand your feelings about the deal he got, I had a moral and ethical obligation to do the best I could for my client, odious as it might seem.”
    “It looks like it all turned out well enough for you.” She glanced around meaningfully at the well-appointed reception area, with its Oriental rugs and plush seating. “I’ll bet that case made your reputation as the criminal defense attorney to go to when the going gets tough.”
    “Everyone deserves an honest defense.”
    “Even an animal who rapes and murders children?”
    “You don’t get to pick and choose who gets to be defended and who doesn’t. Everyone is presumed—”
    “—innocent until proven guilty, right,” she snapped. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before. Better a guilty man should go free than an innocent man punished.”
    “It’s the principle our system of justice was founded on,” he pointed out.
    “I’ve seen too many of the guilty go free. Very often, they’re set free to kill or rape again.”
    “You don’t believe that everyone deserves a fair trial?”
    “Fair trial, yes. Sweetheart deals, like the one you got for Sheldon Woods? Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “Frankly, I don’t know how you sleep at night.”
    “Well, actually, for a long time, Agent Cahill, I didn’t.” He stuck his hands in his pants pockets, looking unexpectedly self-conscious. “But before you condemn me, keep in mind that thirteen families got to bury their sons. I regret that I was not able to return the remains of every murdered child to his loved ones, but that was the best I could do. Woods would not give up more than thirteen.
    “And for the record? Lethal injection would have been far too easy a death for him.”
    “Well, that’s one thing we can agree on.” She turned to the elevator where the doors stood open, waiting for